So I'm thinking in investing in my first Modern deck and this is pretty cheap plus I have had decent results with it on MWS (I know). I'm not sure whether I will play it competitively (because it's probably not good enough), but I do want it to be as good as it can be, if that makes any sense.

I started out with a clear win condition (Kuldotha Phoenix + Inferno Titan) but found that once you've locked the opponent out of the game it doesn't really matter how you win or how fast. So Guardian Idol + Ajani's Lightning Helix seems to be doing the trick.

Trinisphere/Ghostly Prison is really the back bone of the deck, without them it's just way too easy for the opponent to recover after a sweeper.

Boom//Bust is pretty sweet. You can use it in the early game (targeting your own Flagstones) to make the opponent stumble or you can obviously use it as an Armageddon, which is what it's mainly in there for.

Some cards I've considered but found them to only be SB material are Chalice of the Void and Blood Moon. They are both pretty sweet under the right circumstances but they are also dead draws in a lot of matchups. I'm a bit on the fence when it comes to Boseiju, Who Shelters All, they could be worthy of a couple of MB slots, the reason they are not in there is because I haven't faced blue all that much.

I feel like both Ajani Vengeant and Blood Moon are underused in this format, and that they may truly be the best "control" cards out there.

How has Trinisphere been for you? It seems like it might be too slow without the sol lands (Ancient Tomb and City of Traitors) - are you finding that to be the case? How often does Caverns + Guide + Sphere line up for you?

Have you given any thought to Ghost Quarter? It can be a straight up Wasteland vs. some of the more popular decks (e.g. Jund and Tron).

hamster

01-04-2013, 01:51 PM

Cavern + Guide + Sphere doesn't happen very often and Sphere is pretty mediocre pre-sweeper I have to admit. Post-sweeper is when it serves its purpose though. It stops the opponent from sandbagging one or two lands and then go double Goblin Guide/Delver after a Wildfire and keeps him in a firm lock. The deck would roll over to decks with low curves if it didn't have Sphere.

I have been thinking about a Ghost Quarter/Crucible lock as an alternative way to keep the opponent off of lands. I haven't tested it yet. But it's definitely a possibility. At least post board.

By the way I just got stumbled hard by a U/R tempo deck. He just countered all of my lock pieces (Ghostly Prison/3sphere) so that Boom/Bust would hurt me more than him. I've switched Boom/Bust with Destructive Force to give me more outs to the opponents board.